Data communication device, information visualizing system and data communicating program

ABSTRACT

There are provided a changed data extracting unit  13  for extracting only changed data to be present data changed from previous data for each of data to be received repetitively from a plurality of portable terminals  200 , a block data generating unit  14  for collecting, into one, any of the changed data which are extracted and have the same value, thereby generating block data, and a data transmitting unit  15  for transmitting the generated block data, and only data changed from previous receipt to present receipt in a huge amount of data which are collected from the large number of portable terminals  200  and might be changed moment by moment are extracted as transmitting target data, and furthermore, the changed data having the same value are collected into one and transmitted if any. Consequently, a transmission data volume can be reduced.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a data communication device, aninformation visualizing system and a data communicating program and issuitably used in an information visualizing system for analyzing datacollected in a server from a plurality of portable terminals andvisualizing a result of the analysis to provide the visualized result toa terminal of a display request source and to display the visualizedresult thereon, for example.

Description of the Related Art

Conventionally, there is provided an information visualizing system foranalyzing many data collected in a server from a large number ofportable terminals and visualizing a result of the analysis so as to beeasily understood visually, providing the visualized result to a clientterminal and displaying the visualized result thereon. As an example ofthe information visualizing system, there is known a geographicinformation system (GIS) for visualizing a result of analysis anddisplaying the visualized result on a map (for example, see PatentDocuments 1 and 2).

Referring to the map displaying system described in the Patent Document1, a server receives and stores a current place from a portable terminalcarried by a pedestrian or the like or an on-vehicle terminal throughinternet. Then, there are generated map image data for displaying a mapimage where a user mark representing an area including a current placeof a corresponding terminal and indicating a current place of apedestrian in the area or a vehicle mark indicative of a current placeof a vehicle is drawn, and the map image data are transmitted to acorresponding terminal. On the other hand, a terminal receiving the mapimage data displays a map image through a web browser based on the mapimage data.

In the viewing possibility information providing system described in thePatent Document 2, a portable apparatus periodically detects a currentposition and decides a viewing possibility of a television broadcastingsignal of at least one broadcasting station in that position. A resultof the decision is accumulated in a server through a communicationnetwork. Based on the accumulated data, indices representing the resultsof the decision are superimposed and displayed in respective positionson a map around the current position.

Referring to the system for collecting a large number of data from alarge number of portable terminals and analyzing them through a serverand displaying marks representing current positions of the respectiveportable terminals on map images one by one in superimposition asdescribed in the Patent Documents 1 and 2, map image data to begenerated by the server and transmitted to a client terminal have anenormous data volume so that a communication load is extremely large.For this reason, there is a problem in that a long time is taken forcommunication and a turnaround time for displaying a map image on theclient terminal is thus prolonged. In particular, it is hard to update,in real time, information which might be changed moment by moment, forexample, a current position, a result of decision of a viewingpossibility or the like and to display them on the client terminal.

There is known the technology for transmitting only difference datahaving a change generated, thereby reducing a communication load (seePatent Documents 3 to 5, for example). In the information managementsystem described in the Patent Document 3, a mobile station device (avehicle server) is provided in a mobile station (a war vessel) andserves to record data to be collected in the mobile station and totransmit difference information indicative of a changed part of data toa fixed station in a predetermined cycle.

Referring to the data transfer method descried in the Patent Document 4,when packetizing monitored information in a monitored device andtransmitting the packetized information to a monitoring device through atransmission path, it is possible to efficiently use a transmission pathhaving a limited capacity by extracting only a changed part of thepacketized information to transmit a difference packet with atransmission packet data volume reduced.

Referring to the data difference distributing method of the compresseddescribed in the Patent Document 5, it is possible to reduce a data sizeto be distributed, thereby shortening a time required for distributionby distributing a difference between old data and new data.

-   [Patent Document 1] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No.    2013-45238-   [Patent Document 2] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No.    2006-115257-   [Patent Document 3] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No.    2005-258582-   [Patent Document 4] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No.    1993-191454-   [Patent Document 5] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No.    2011-60039

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

As in the Patent Documents 3 to 5, generally, only difference data aretransmitted to reduce a communication data volume. However, this isinsufficient for visualizing, in real time, a huge amount of informationchangeable moment by moment and providing them to the client terminal.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the problem andhas an object to enable a huge amount of information collected from alarge number of portable terminals and changeable moment by moment to bevisualized in real time and to be provided to a client terminal.

In order to achieve the object, in the present invention, it is decidedwhether or not present data to be data received at this time are changedfrom previous data to be data received previously for each of datareceived repetitively from a plurality of portable terminals and onlythe present changed data which are changed are extracted as changed datatogether with respective identification information. Furthermore, any ofthe changed data which are extracted and have the same value arecollected into one and the changed data thus collected is associatedwith a plurality of corresponding identification information to generateblock data, and the block data thus generated are transmitted.

According to the present invention having the structure described above,there are extracted, as transmitting target data, only data changed fromprevious receipt to present receipt in a huge amount of data which arecollected from a large number of portable terminals and might be changedmoment by moment. Consequently, a transmission data volume can bereduced. In addition, if there is a plurality of changed data having thesame value, they are collected into one and transmitted. Therefore, atransmission data volume can further be reduced. Consequently, a datavolume to be transmitted to a client terminal can be reducedconsiderably so that a communication load can be decreased remarkably.Therefore, a huge amount of information which might be changed moment bymoment can be visualized in real time and provided to the clientterminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a structure of a communicatingsystem which applies a data communication device according to a firstembodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional structureof the data communication device according to the first embodiment;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams for explaining a processing content of ablock data generating unit according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional structureof a data communication device according to a second embodiment;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams for explaining the content of a compressionprocessing to be performed by a data compressing unit according to thesecond embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional structureof a data communication device according to a third embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the processing contents of a changeddata extracting unit and a block data generating unit according to thethird embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a structure of an informationvisualizing system according to a fourth embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional structureof the information visualizing system according to the fourthembodiment;

FIG. 10 is a view showing an example of a mark to be displayed by avisualizing information displaying unit according to the fourthembodiment;

FIG. 11 is a view showing an example of a screen to be displayed by thevisualizing information displaying unit according to the fourthembodiment; and

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing another example of the functionalstructure of the information visualizing system according to the fourthembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment

A first embodiment according to the present invention will be describedbelow with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing anexample of a structure of a communicating system which applies a datacommunication device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is ablock diagram showing an example of a functional structure of the datacommunication device according to the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, a data communication device 100A according to thefirst embodiment is configured to be connectable through a network suchas INTERNET to a plurality of portable terminals 201, 202, 203, . . . ,(which will be hereinafter referred to as a portable terminal 200) and aclient terminal 300.

The portable terminal 200 is a terminal related to an information sourceof data which is a target of data processing to be performed in the datacommunication device 100A. The portable terminal 200 is a smartphone, atablet terminal, a portable telephone, a notebook computer, a carnavigation device or the like, for example.

The client terminal 300 is a terminal for acquiring and displaying aresult of the data processing in the data communication device 100A. Theclient terminal 300 is a separate terminal from the portable terminal200 and is a personal computer, for example. The client terminal 300 maybe any of the portable terminals 201, 202, 203, . . . .

As shown in FIG. 2, the data communication device 100A according to thefirst embodiment includes, as a functional structure thereof, a terminaldata receiving unit 11, a temporary storing unit 12, a changed dataextracting unit 13, a block data generating unit 14 and a datatransmitting unit 15. These functional blocks 11 to 15 can also beconfigured from any of hardware, a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) andsoftware. For example, if the respective functional blocks 11 to 15 areconfigured from the software, they actually include a CPU, an RAM, anROM and the like in a computer and are implemented by an operation of aprogram stored in a recording medium such as the RAM, the ROM, a harddisk or a semiconductor memory.

The terminal data receiving unit 11 repetitively receives data which canbe changed with the passage of time from the portable terminals 201,202, 203, . . . . The data which can be changed with the passage of timeare data (hereinafter referred to as terminal data), for example,current position information representing a position where the portableterminal 200 is present, operating state information representing anoperating state of the portable terminal 200, user situation informationrepresenting a situation of a user using the portable terminal 200 andthe like. The terminal data may be information to be detectedautomatically by the portable terminal 200 or information to be input bya user. The terminal data receiving unit 11 receives, at any time,terminal data to be transmitted periodically by the portable terminal200 or in response to a user operation.

The temporary storing unit 12 temporarily stores the terminal datareceived by the terminal data receiving unit 11. This is intended forenabling comparison between terminal data received at this time andterminal data received previously. The comparison is individuallyperformed for each terminal data to be transmitted from the portableterminal 200. For this reason, it is necessary to identify any of theportable terminals 200 from which the terminal data transmitted from theportable terminals 201, 202, 203, . . . are sent respectively. In orderto perform the identification, the individual terminal data areassociated with predetermined identification information and are thusmanaged.

The identification information to be associated with the terminal datais given when the terminal data is to be transmitted from the portableterminal 200 to the data communication device 100A. As theidentification information, for example, it is possible to use an IPaddress, a MAC address, a serial number or the like which is peculiar tothe portable terminal 200. Alternatively, it is also possible to use apreset user ID as the identification information.

The identification information may be given through the datacommunication device 100A. For example, the terminal data receiving unit11 of the data communication device 100A may identify the portableterminal 200 transmitting the terminal data and give predeterminedidentification information to each of the terminal data of the portableterminal 200 thus identified based on cookie information or the like.

The changed data extracting unit 13 decides whether or not data receivedat this time (which will be hereinafter referred to as present data) arechanged from data received previously and stored in the temporarystoring unit 12 (which will be hereinafter referred to as previous data)for each of the terminal data to be received from the portable terminals201, 202, 203, . . . by the terminal data receiving unit 11, andextracts only the present data that are changed (which will behereinafter referred to as changed data) together with the respectiveidentification information. The changed data extracting unit 13 executesthe changed data extraction processing periodically and repetitively.

The block data generating unit 14 collects, into one, any of the changeddata extracted by the changed data extracting unit 13 and having thesame value, and associates the changed data thus collected with aplurality of corresponding identification information, therebygenerating block data. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, it is assumedthat changed data (value of the present data) of identificationinformation “ID 1” is “ABC” and changed data of identificationinformation “ID 2” is also “ABC”. In this case, the block datagenerating unit 14 collects these two changed data into one andassociates the collected changed data with two identificationinformation “ID 1, 2” to form one block data as shown in FIG. 3B. Theblock data generating unit 14 repetitively executes the block datageneration processing every time the changed data extracting unit 13extracts the changed data.

The data transmitting unit 15 transmits the block data generated by theblock data generating unit 14 to the client terminal 300. For example,the data transmitting unit 15 transmits the block data generated by theblock data generating unit 14 to the client terminal 300 as a responsewhen a request for acquiring terminal data on the portable terminals201, 202, 203, . . . is given from the client terminal 300. The datatransmitting unit 15 transmits, to the client terminal 300 at any time,the block data to be generated at any time by the block data generatingunit 14 in relation to the changed data to be extracted periodically bythe changed data extracting unit 13.

The client terminal 300 expands the block data transmitted from the datacommunication device 100A to the individual terminal data. Then, thereare updated only the expanded terminal data in the terminal data relatedto the portable terminals 201, 202, 203, . . . stored in the clientterminal 300. Herein, the identification information is associated withthe terminal data in the block data. Therefore, the client terminal 300can identify which one of the terminal data are to be updated.

According to the first embodiment, thus, only the data changed from theprevious receipt to the present receipt in the terminal data collectedin the data communication device 100A from the portable terminals 201,202, 203, . . . (a huge amount of data which might be changed moment bymoment) are extracted as data to be a transmitting target. Therefore, atransmission data volume is reduced. In addition, if there are aplurality of changed data having the same value, they are collected intoone to be transmitted. Therefore, the transmission data volume isfurther reduced. Consequently, a data volume for transmission to theclient terminal 300 can be reduced considerably so that a communicationload can be decreased remarkably. Therefore, a huge amount ofinformation which might be changed moment by moment can be provided tothe client terminal 300 in real time.

Second Embodiment

Next, a second embodiment according to the present invention will bedescribed with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a block diagramshowing an example of a functional structure of a data communicationdevice 100B according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 4, componentshaving the same reference numerals as those shown in FIG. 2 have thesame functions. For this reason, repetitive description will be omitted.As shown in FIG. 4, the data communication device 100B according to thesecond embodiment further includes a data compressing unit 16.

Although the data compressing unit 16 rearranges a plurality of blockdata generated by the block data generating unit 14 in such a mannerthat the block data having the same data types of the changed datatherein are arranged consecutively to each other, and compresses aserial rearranged data by a predetermined compressing method. Althoughthe compressing method is optional, it is possible to apply a Deflatebased compressing method (ZLIB as an example), for instance.

The Deflate based compressing method serves to replace, with a shortersign, the arrangement of values which has already come out if it comesout again. However, if it is retrieved by endlessly going back whetherthe value has already come out, the processing becomes heavy. Therefore,a range for the retrieval is generally limited to perform compression.By rearranging the block data in such a manner that the block datahaving the same data type of the changed data therein are arrangedconsecutively to each other as described above, therefore, it ispossible to increase a compression ratio.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams for explaining the content of a compressionprocessing to be performed by the data compressing unit 16. In anexample of FIGS. 5A and 5B, four block data are generated by the blockdata generating unit 14. As shown in FIG. 5A, changed data included infirst block data BL1 is “ABC” having a data type of a character type.Changed data included in second block data BL2 is “123” having a datatype of a numeric type. Changed data included in third block data BL3 is“ABD” having a data type of a character type. Changed data included infourth block data BL4 is “124” having a data type of a numeric type.

In this case, the data compressing unit 16 rearranges the four blockdata BL1 to BL4 in such a manner that the two block data BL1 and BL3 inwhich the changed data have a data type of a character type are arrangedconsecutively and the two block data BL2 and BL4 in which the changeddata have a data type of a numeric type are arranged consecutively.Then, the data compressing unit 16 compresses a serial rearranged databy the Deflate based compressing method. In this case, there isincreased a possibility that encoding might be performed in the blockdata BL1 and BL3 portions in which the changed data of the charactertype are arranged, and furthermore, the encoding might be performed inthe block data BL2 and BL4 portions in which the changed data of thenumeric type are arranged.

According to the second embodiment, thus, the data compression isperformed by the data compressing unit 16 in addition to the extractionof only the changed data through the changed data extracting unit 13 andthe generation of the block data through the block data generating unit14. Therefore, the transmission data volume can further be reduced.Herein, the block data generated by the block data generating unit 14are not simply compressed but the block data having the same data typeof the changed data therein are rearranged consecutively to each other,and are thus compressed. Therefore, the compression ratio can beincreased.

Third Embodiment

Next, a third embodiment according to the present invention will bedescribed with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 is a block diagramshowing an example of a functional structure of a data communicationdevice 100C according to the third embodiment. In FIG. 6, componentshaving the same reference numerals as those shown in FIG. 2 have thesame functions. Therefore, repetitive description will be omitted. Asshown in FIG. 6, the data communication device 100C according to thethird embodiment includes a changed data extracting unit 13C in place ofthe changed data extracting unit 13.

The changed data extracting unit 13C sets, as reference data, any ofchanged data extracted in the same manner as in the first embodiment andcalculates a difference between changed data other than the referencedata and the other changed data. Then, the changed data extracting unit13C extracts the reference data and the difference data as the changeddata together with respective identification information.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5A, it is assumed that changed data “123”are extracted for IDs 3 and 4 and changed data “124” are extracted forIDs 8, 9 and 10 by the changed data extracting unit 13C. In this case,the changed data extracting unit 13C further determines, as thereference data, one of the changed data for IDs 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10. As anexample, the changed data for the smallest number ID 3 is determined asthe reference data. The changed data extracting unit 13C calculates adifference between the changed data for the other IDs 4, 8, 9 and 10 andthe other changed data other than own changed data and replaces thechanged data with difference data.

Herein, the “other changed data” can be set to be last changed data inthe arrangement of the changed data with the reference data set to be ahead. Although how to arrange the changed data is optional, it can besupposed to arrange the changed data in ascending order of the IDs, forexample. In this case, the last changed data of the ID 3 is the “otherchanged data” for the changed data of the ID 4. The changed dataextracting unit 13C calculates a difference between the changed data ofthe ID 4 and the changed data of the ID 3 and replaces the changed dataof the ID 4 with the difference data. The last changed data of the ID 4is the “other changed data” for the changed data of the ID 8. Thechanged data extracting unit 13C calculates a difference between thechanged data of the ID 8 and the changed data of the ID 4 and replacesthe changed data of the ID 8 with the difference data. Similarly, thechanged data extracting unit 13C calculates a difference between thechanged data of the ID 9 and the last changed data of the ID 8 andcalculates a difference between the changed data of the ID 10 and thelast changed data of the ID 9 and sets the difference to be differencedata.

As another example, moreover, the “other changed data” can also be setto be the reference data. In this case, in relation to any of thechanged data of the IDs 4, 8, 9 and 10, the changed data of the ID 3determined as the reference data is the “other changed data” and adifference between each of the changed data of the IDs 4, 8, 9 and 10and the changed data of the ID 3 is calculated and replaced withdifference data.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the processing contents of thechanged data extracting unit 13C and the block data generating unit 14according to the third embodiment. In the same manner as in FIG. 5A,there is shown an example of the case in which the changed data “123”are extracted for the IDs 3 and 4 and the changed data “124” areextracted for the IDs 8, 9 and 10 by the changed data extracting unit13C.

In a first example shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of changed data arearranged in ascending order of IDs and ID 3 of the smallest number isset to be the reference data, and a difference between each of thechanged data of the other IDs 4, 8, 9 and 10 and the last changed datais calculated and replaced with difference data. In other words, sinceID 3 is the reference data, the changed data “123” are maintained. Thechanged data of the IDs 4, 8, 9 and 10 are replaced with difference data“000”, “001”, “000” and “000”, respectively.

The changed data extracting unit 13C extracts the reference data of theID 3 and the difference data of the IDs 4, 8, 9 and 10 as the changeddata together with respective identification information and suppliesthem to the block data generating unit 14. In this case, the block datagenerating unit 14 collects the difference data “000” of the IDs 4, 9and 10 into one and associates it with the three identificationinformation “ID 4, 9 and 10” to form one block data. In relation to eachof the ID 3 and ID 8, one block data is formed by only one changed data,respectively.

On the other hand, in a second example shown in FIG. 7, the ID 3 havingthe smallest number in the changed data is set to be the reference dataand a difference between each of the changed data of the IDs 4, 8, 9 and10 and the reference data is calculated for the other IDs 4, 8, 9 and 10and is replaced with difference data. In other words, since the ID 3 isthe reference data, the changed data “123” is maintained, and thechanged data of the IDs 4, 8, 9 and 10 are replaced with the differencedata “000”, “001”, “001” and “001”, respectively.

The changed data extracting unit 13C extracts the reference data of theID 3 and the difference data of the IDs 4, 8, 9 and 10 as the changeddata together with respective identification information and suppliesthem to the block data generating unit 14. In this case, the block datagenerating unit 14 collects the difference data “001” of the IDs 8, 9and 10 into one and associates the collected data with the threeidentification information “IDs 8, 9, 10” to form one block data. Inrelation to the IDs 3 and 4, one block data is formed by only onechanged data, respectively.

According to the third embodiment, thus, the changed data other than thereference data can be expressed, as the difference data, in a smallvalue. Therefore, it is possible to decrease the number of digitsrequired for the changed data. Consequently, the data volume to betransmitted from the data transmitting unit 15 to the client terminal300 can further be reduced.

In the third embodiment, the data compressing unit 16 described in thesecond embodiment may further be provided. Thus, the transmission datavolume can further be reduced.

In the third embodiment, moreover, the block data generating unit 14 maycalculate the difference between the changed data in place of thecalculation of the difference between the changed data by the changeddata extracting unit 13C. In this case, the block data generating unit14 sets any of the generated block data as the reference data andcalculates a difference between the changed data in the block data otherthan the reference data and the changed data in the other block data.Herein, the “other block data” may be set to be last block data in thearrangement of the block data with the reference data set to be a heador may be the reference data.

Fourth Embodiment

Next, a fourth embodiment according to the present invention will bedescribed with reference to the drawings. The fourth embodiment relatesto an information visualizing system configured by applying any of thefirst to third embodiments. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of awhole structure of the information visualizing system according to thefourth embodiment. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an example of afunctional structure of the information visualizing system according tothe fourth embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 8, the information visualizing system according to thefourth embodiment has a plurality of portable terminals 201, 202, 203, .. . , a server 100 and a client terminal 300 connected through a networksuch as INTERNET, and serves to analyze data collected in the server 100from the portable terminals 201, 202, 203, . . . , to visualize a resultof the analysis, to provide the visualized result to the client terminal300 and to display the result thereon.

As shown in FIG. 9, the server 100 includes a terminal data receivingunit 11′, a visualized information generating unit 20 and a visualizedinformation transmitting unit 15′ as a functional structure thereof. Thevisualized information generating unit 20 includes a temporary storingunit 12, a changed data extracting unit 13′, a block data generatingunit 14′ and a map drawing unit 21 as a specific functional structure.Moreover, the server 100 includes a map data storing unit 22. The clientterminal 300 includes a visualized information receiving unit 31 and avisualized information displaying unit 32.

The terminal data receiving unit 11′ repetitively receives, from theportable terminals 201, 202, 203, . . . terminal data including currentposition information and predetermined management information as datawhich might be changed with the passage of time. It is assumed that themanagement information is status information representing a situation ofa user using the portable terminal 200, for example. As an example, anemployee of an enterprise possesses the portable terminal 200 and theterminal data receiving unit 11′ repetitively receives statusinformation representing a situation of the employee (during a customerservice, a work, a rest or the like) as the terminal data together withthe current position information. The current position information isdetected by a GPS receiver or the like including the portable terminal200 and the status information is input through an operation of theportable terminal 200 by the employee.

The visualized information generating unit 20 generates visualizinginformation for causing the client terminal 300 to display a map imagedrawn in superimposition of a mark representing a state of the portableterminal 200 (a status of the employee to use the portable terminal 200)indicated by management information received by the terminal datareceiving unit 11′ in a current position indicated by the currentposition information received by the terminal data receiving unit 11′.

FIG. 10 is a view showing an example of a mark to be displayed on theclient terminal 300. In the example of FIG. 10, a pin mark 50 is used asa mark to be displayed in the current position on the map image, and astatus display region 51 taking a circular shape is provided on a centerof the pin mark 50. The status of the employee is displayed to enableidentification through a display color, a display pattern or the like ofthe status display region 51, for example.

The visualizing information generating unit 20 generates visualizinginformation required for displaying the pin mark 50 shown in FIG. 10 insuperimposition in the current position on the map image. Thevisualizing information is constituted by block data to be generated bythe temporary storing unit 12, the changed data extracting unit 13′ andthe block data generating unit 14′ and map image data to be drawn by themap drawing unit 21 based on map data stored in the map data storingunit 22.

The changed data extracting unit 13′ decides whether present data arechanged from previous data for each of the current position informationand the management information to be received from the portableterminals 201, 202, 203, . . . by the terminal data receiving unit 11′,and extracts only the changed data to be present data which are changedtogether with respective identification information. Herein, there mightbe the case in which only the current position information is changed,the case in which only the management information is changed and thecase in which both of the current position information and themanagement information are changed in relation to one of the portableterminals 200. In the case in which both of the current positioninformation and the management information are changed, two changed datarelated to the current position information and the managementinformation are extracted in a state in which they are associated withone identical identification information.

The block data generating unit 14′ collects any of the changed dataextracted by the changed data extracting unit 13′ and having the samevalue into one and associates the changed data thus collected with aplurality of corresponding identification information, therebygenerating block data.

The visualizing information transmitting unit 15′ transmits thevisualizing information (the block data and the map image data)generated by the visualizing information generating unit 20 to theclient terminal 300 to be a display request source. For example, theclient terminal 300 to be the display request source can be a personalcomputer for a manager which is provided in an office of an enterprise.The visualizing information receiving unit 31 of the client terminal 300receives the visualizing information transmitted by the visualizinginformation transmitting unit 15′.

The visualizing information displaying unit 32 updates the drawing ofthe pin mark 50 and displays the updated drawing in superimposition onthe map image in relation to at least one of a current position and astatus of an employee which are indicated by corresponding changed data(at least one of the current position information and the managementinformation) every identification information included in the block databased on the visualizing information (the block data and the map imagedata) received by the visualizing information receiving unit 31.

FIG. 11 is a view showing an example of a screen to be displayed by thevisualizing information displaying unit 32. In the displayed screenshown in FIG. 11, in relation to IDs having only the current positioninformation changed, a display manner of the status display region 51 isnot changed but only a display position of the pin mark 50 is changed tothe newest current position which is to be displayed on the map image.On the other hand, in relation to the IDs having only the managementinformation changed, the display position of the pin mark 50 is notchanged but the display manner of the status display region 51 ischanged to a manner representing the newest status which is to bedisplayed on the map image. In relation to the IDs having both of thecurrent position information and the management information changed,moreover, the display position of the pin mark 50 and the display mannerof the status display region 51 are changed into the newest state whichis to be displayed on the map image.

According to the fourth embodiment, thus, when analyzing a huge amountof terminal data (the current position information and the managementinformation) which are collected from a large number of portableterminals 201, 202, 203, . . . and might be changed moment by moment andproviding them as visualizing information to the client terminal 300, itis possible to considerably decrease a data volume to be transmitted tothe client terminal 300 and to remarkably reduce a communication load.Therefore, it is possible to visualize, in real time, the huge amount ofinformation which might be changed moment by moment and to provide thevisualized information to the client terminal 300.

Also in the fourth embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, the data compressingunit 16 described in the second embodiment may further be provided. Inthis case, the current position information is of a numeric type and themanagement information is of a character type. Accordingly, the datacompressing unit 16 to be provided in the visualizing informationgenerating unit 20 rearranges a plurality of block data generated by theblock data generating unit 14′ in such a manner that changed data on thecurrent position information of the numeric type are arrangedconsecutively to each other and changed data on the managementinformation of the character type are arranged consecutively to eachother, and furthermore, compresses a serial data thus rearranged by apredetermined compressing method.

In this case, the visualizing information transmitting unit 15′transmits the compressed data generated by the data compressing unit 16and the map image data drawn by the map drawing unit 21 to the clientterminal 300 to be a display request source. The visualizing informationreceiving unit 31 of the client terminal 300 receives the visualizinginformation (the compressed data and the map image data) transmitted bythe visualizing information transmitting unit 15′.

The client terminal 300 further includes a data decompressing unit 33 inaddition to the visualizing information receiving unit 31 and thevisualizing information displaying unit 32 shown in FIG. 9. The datadecompressing unit 33 decompresses the compressed data received by thevisualizing information receiving unit 31 into block data. Thevisualizing information displaying unit 32 updates the drawing of thepin mark 50 based on at least one of the current position and themanagement information which are indicated by the corresponding changeddata and displays the updated drawing in superimposition on the mapimage every identification information included in the block data on thebasis of the block data decompressed by the data decompressing unit 33and the map image data received by the visualizing information receivingunit 31.

Moreover, the changed data extracting unit 13′ may extract the referencedata and the difference data as the changed data together with therespective identification information in the same manner as in the thirdembodiment. In particular, in relation to the current positioninformation of the numeric type, it is preferable to extract thereference data and the difference data as the changed data. For example,in the case in which the current position information is constituted bylatitude and longitude information, a compressing effect can beenhanced.

For easy understanding, description will be given based on only alatitude. For example, it is assumed that the current positioninformation (longitude) of the IDs 1 to 4 in the following are extractedas the changed data by the changed data extracting unit 13′.

ID1: 35.690024

ID2: 35.681382

ID3: 35.658544

ID4: 35.629365

In the case in which there are four changed data, the changed data of ID1 is determined as a reference. In relation to the IDs 2 to 4,difference data are calculated in accordance with the first example.Thus, the following result is obtained.

ID1: 35.690024

ID2: 0.008642 (=35.690024−35.681382)

ID3: 0.022838 (=35.681382−35.658544)

ID4: 0.029179 (=35.658544−35.629365)

Herein, it is sufficient that precision in the latitude and longitudehas six decimal places. In the case of a fixed digit, a head of “0.0”can further be reduced in the following manner.

ID1: 35.690024

ID2: 08642

ID3: 22838

ID4: 29179

A map image shown in FIG. 11 is rarely seen in a wide region at a globallevel and is often zoomed up to a prefecture or municipality level andis thus seen in a narrow region. In that case, a latitude and alongitude of data present in the screen have very approximate values.For this reason, the compression described above is effective. It isapparent that an efficiency is increased with an increase in the numberof the portable terminals 200.

The first to fourth embodiments are only illustrative for concretenessto carry out the present invention and the technical scope of thepresent invention should not be thereby construed to be restrictive. Inother words, the present invention can be carried out in variousconfigurations without departing from the gist or main features thereof.

1. A data communication device comprising: a terminal data receivingunit for repetitively receiving, from a plurality of portable terminals,data which might be changed with passage of time; a changed dataextracting unit for deciding whether or not present data to be datareceived at this time are changed from previous data to be data receivedpreviously for each of data to be received from the portable terminalsby the terminal data receiving unit, and extracting only the changeddata to be the present data which are changed together with respectiveidentification information; a block data generating unit for collecting,into one, any of the changed data which are extracted by the changeddata extracting unit and have the same value, and associating thechanged data thus collected with a plurality of correspondingidentification information to generate block data; and a datatransmitting unit for transmitting the block data generated by the blockdata generating unit.
 2. The data communication device according toclaim 1, further comprising: a data compressing unit for rearranging aplurality of the block data generated by the block data generating unitin such a manner that the block data having the same data types of thechanged data therein are arranged consecutively to each other, andcompressing a serial rearranged data by a predetermined compressingmethod, wherein the data transmitting unit transmits the compressed datagenerated by the data compressing unit.
 3. The data communication deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the changed data extracting unit sets, asreference data, any of the changed data which are extracted, calculatesa difference between the changed data other than the reference data andthe other changed data, and extracts the reference data and differencedata as the changed data together with respective identificationinformation.
 4. The data communication device according to claim 3,wherein the other changed data is last changed data in the arrangementof the changed data with the reference data set to be a head.
 5. Thedata communication device according to claim 3, wherein the otherchanged data is the reference data.
 6. The data communication deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the block data generating unit sets any ofthe generated block data as reference data and calculates a differencebetween the changed data in the block data other than the reference dataand the changed data in the other block data.
 7. The data communicationdevice according to claim 6, wherein the other block data is last blockdata in the arrangement of the block data with the reference data set tobe a head.
 8. The data communication device according to claim 6,wherein the other block data is the reference data.
 9. An informationvisualizing system having a plurality of portable terminals and a serverconnected through a network and serving to analyze data collected in theserver from the portable terminals, to visualize a result of theanalysis, to provide the visualized result to a terminal of a displayrequest source, and to display the visualized result thereon, whereinthe server includes: a terminal data receiving unit for repetitivelyreceiving, from the portable terminals, terminal data including currentposition information and predetermined management information as datawhich might be changed with passage of time; a visualizing informationgenerating unit for generating visualizing information to display a mapimage where a mark representing a state of the portable terminalindicated by the predetermined management information received by theterminal data receiving unit is drawn in a current position indicated bythe current position information received by the terminal data receivingunit; and a visualizing information transmitting unit for transmittingthe visualizing information generated by the visualizing informationgenerating unit to the terminal of the display request source, thevisualizing information generating unit includes: a changed dataextracting unit for deciding whether or not present data to be datareceived at this time are changed from previous data to be data receivedpreviously for each of the current position information and themanagement information to be received from the portable terminals by theterminal data receiving unit, and extracting only changed data to be thepresent data which are changed together with respective identificationinformation; and a block data generating unit for collecting, into one,any of the changed data which are extracted by the changed dataextracting unit and having the same value, and associating the changeddata thus collected with a plurality of corresponding identificationinformation to generating block data, wherein the visualizinginformation transmitting unit transmits the block data generated by theblock data generating unit and data on the map image to the terminal ofthe display request source, and the terminal of the display requestsource includes a visualizing information displaying unit for updatingdrawing of the mark based on at least one of a current position and astate of the portable terminal which are indicated by the correspondingchanged data, and displaying the updated drawing in superimposition onthe map image every identification information included in the blockdata on the basis of the block data and the data on the map image whichare transmitted by the visualizing information transmitting unit. 10.The information visualizing system according to claim 9, wherein thevisualizing information generating unit further includes a datacompressing unit for rearranging a plurality of the block data generatedby the block data generating unit in such a manner that block datahaving the same data types of the changed data therein are arrangedconsecutively to each other and compressing a serial rearranged data bya predetermined compressing method, the visualizing informationtransmitting unit transmits compressed data generated by the datacompressing unit and the data of the map image to the terminal of thedisplay request source, the terminal of the display request sourcefurther includes a data decompressing unit for decompressing thecompressed data transmitted by the visualizing information transmittingunit into the block data, and the visualizing information displayingunit updates drawing of the mark based on at least one of a currentposition and a state of the portable terminal which are indicated by thecorresponding changed data, and displaying the updated drawing insuperimposition on the map image every identification informationincluded in the block data on the basis of the block data decompressedby the data decompressing unit and the data of the map image.
 11. Theinformation visualizing system according to claim 9, wherein the changeddata extracting unit sets, as reference data, any of the changed datawhich are extracted, calculate a difference between the changed dataother than the reference data and the other changed data, and extractsthe reference data and difference data as the changed data together withrespective identification information.
 12. The information visualizingsystem according to claim 9, wherein the block data generating unit setsany of the generated block data as reference data and calculates adifference between the changed data in the block data other than thereference data and the changed data in the other block data.
 13. Theinformation visualizing system according to claim 11, wherein thecurrent position information is constituted by latitude and longitudeinformation.
 14. The information visualizing system according to claim12, wherein the current position information is constituted by latitudeand longitude information.
 15. A data communicating program recorded ina non-transitory computer-readable medium for causing a computer tofunction as: terminal data receiving means for repetitively receiving,from a plurality of portable terminals, data which might be changed withpassage of time; changed data extracting means for deciding whether ornot present data to be data received at this time are changed fromprevious data to be data received previously for each of data to bereceived from the portable terminals by the terminal data receivingmeans, and extracting only the changed data to be the present data whichare changed together with respective identification information; blockdata generating means for collecting, into one, any of the changed datawhich are extracted by the changed data extracting means and have thesame value, and associating the changed data thus collected with aplurality of corresponding identification information to generate blockdata; and data transmitting means for transmitting the block datagenerated by the block data generating means.
 16. The data communicatingprogram according to claim 15, wherein a computer is further caused tofunction as data compressing means for rearranging a plurality of theblock data generated by the block data generating means in such a mannerthat the block data having the same data types of the changed datatherein are arranged consecutively to each other, and compressing aserial rearranged data by a predetermined compressing method, the datatransmitting means transmits the compressed data generated by the datacompressing means.
 17. The data communicating program according to claim15, wherein the changed data extracting means sets, as reference data,any of the changed data which are extracted, calculates a differencebetween the changed data other than the reference data and the otherchanged data, and extracts the reference data and difference data as thechanged data together with respective identification information. 18.The data communicating program according to claim 15, wherein the blockdata generating means sets any of the generated block data as referencedata and calculates a difference between the changed data in the blockdata other than the reference data and the changed data in the otherblock data.